CHILDHOOD PROMISES
Words and music
By Ann Hampton Callaway
They say that children don't know
I remember knowing
They say that children don't choose
I remember making a choice
I remember hearing a voice
And it wasn't my mother's
And it wasn't my father's
It was my voice, my voice
My first voice
It's something going so deep
I will always feel it
No matter how old I am
I will always start from that place
I will always need to embrace
That lone little girl
Who cried out so free
"I am going to be me”
CHORUS
Childhood promises
I have kept them all my life
I have made them after
First hurt, first fear
First touch, first tear
First trying to hear
First trying to be
Trying to be
Sometimes you don't want to know
Why you do the same things
Or you just don't understand
Why you seem to give into doubt
Why you seem to shut people out
And you never let them near you
So you never let them hurt you
It's a promise, a promise
You forgot
Then you remember the day
When your first love crushed you
And you said once was enough
Well, if you don't break that one now
Then the promise will kill her somehow
That lone little girl
Who cried out so free
"I am going to be me”
CHORUS
Childhood promises
I will feel them all again
I will break the ones that stop me, stop you
From the things we must do
Oh, I've got to be true
To the first one
True to the first voice
The first choice
Childhood promises
Childhood promises
Childhood promises